We promised a distinctively Welsh flavour to the Annual Meetings of the General Assembly in Swansea and we did not disappoint.
We celebrated in song. The "Gymanfa Ganu", a singing festival and a regular feature of Welsh Unitarian churches, on Sunday afternoon saw what is probably the largest national gathering of Unitarians in Britain this century. I was worried we would look like a small group in the magnificent Brangwyn Hall, but we filled it. To sing well-known Unitarian hymns in English and Welsh was a memorable experience.
The social evening the previous evening was a joy. The award-winning youth choir from Credigion entertained us in the finest choral traditons of Wales. Our new Welsh Department Secretary, Carwyn Tywyn played folk on the three string harp. To hear the Welsh national anthem three times in one day was not overkill!
And what a pleasure to welcome the Bangor Unitarians to membership of the General Assembly. They are the first new group to join the General Assembly since 2003. They have made such progress in a short time and have potential to grow further.
Swansea in 2011 will remain in our thoughts with Welsh Unitarianism on the march.
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The accession of the Bangor Fellowship was a really bright moment in the GA ; after so much talk of growth and strategy, here was a group that had 'walked the walk' rather than just 'talked the talk'. The story of their development needs to be made widely available to all Unitarians with the encouragement to 'go
ReplyDeleteand do likewise'.